Thursday, August 2, 2007

The first depth chart of the summer

There's a unique satisfaction that comes along with seeing the first depth chart of the summer. It's almost the exact opposite feeling of seeing the mall's first Christmas decorations in early October, which probably has a lot to do with Bing Crosby's involvement with each situation.

Most of these rankings are, of course, subject to immediate change. While we're probably not going to see Klinkenborg drop off the 2-deeps, he's only one of about five players with a starting job sewn up.

Pay special attention to walk-on Brett Greenwood, who has played exactly zero snaps in his college career, but still has an early lead on the free safety position. While it would be easy to draw a parallel between him and guys like Sean Considine or Derek Pagel--white walk-ons at free safety are easily confused, after all--his melanin-challenged predecessors didn't lock down starting roles until their senior years. Greenwood, meanwhile, held a second-string role on the 2-deeps last year without losing eligibility. While it might seem strange to use one of the road dress spots on a guy you were never planning on using, it's not as if backup safeties were even on Iowa's radar of major problems last year.

Another position battle of note is the WR role, where Trey Stross seems close to eclipsing Dominique Douglas and putting two white wide receivers in the starting lineup. Even more amazing? They're the speed guys.

Lastly, keep an eye on Kenny Iwebema and Adrian Clayborn (VHT!) at one of the end spots. Iwebema had a serious regression in performance last season; if he continues to underachieve, Clayborn could probably step in and improve the defensive line. Let's hope, however, that Iowa's 2007 season doesn't include a former first team All-Big 10 defensive lineman losing his spot to a redshirt freshman.

Now onto the good stuff. All links go to the official 2007 pages for the players, and the stars refer to the letters won by each young man.